[…]
Grim Natwick – the name bespeaks the whole history of animation. It starts in the early days of animation in 1916, and his association with Greg LaCava, and the Hearst organization in New York, and continues through his work with the Terry Studio in 1918, and the Disney studio in the 1930s. It was at Disney that he worked on Silly Symphonies shorts and was chiefly responsible for animating the character of Snow White in the first full-length animated feature, with no less than five assistants. His remarkable career includes his most famous creation for Max Fleischer – Betty Boop, whose face is still seen all over the world. His work continued through the 40s, 50s, 60s, and into the 70s, with anybody who was anybody – Ub Iwerks, Walter Lantz, and the UPA, organization. In the 1970s, he was persuaded by Richard Williams to come out of retirement and teach animation at the Richard Williams studio in London. […] On July 21, 1989, I called him and set up an appointment to see him in two weeks.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get to the phone faster,” he said, “but you see I’ll be 99 next month.”
[…]
